FIG. 1 depicts a side view of portion of a conventional energy assisted magnetic recording (EAMR) disk drive 10. The conventional EAMR disk drive 10 includes a recording media 12, a conventional slider 20, and a conventional laser diode 30 that are typically attached to a suspension (not shown). Other components that may be part of the conventional EAMR disk drive 10 are not shown. The conventional slider 20 includes a back side 24 and a trailing face 26. The conventional slider 20 is typically attached to the suspension at its back side 24. A conventional EAMR transducer 22 is coupled with the slider 20 on the trailing face 26 of the slider.
The conventional EAMR transducer 22 includes a grating (not separately shown) on the trailing face 26. Light from the conventional laser diode 30 is provided substantially along the optic axis 32 of the conventional laser diode 30 to the grating of conventional EAMR transducer 22. In some conventional EAMR disk drives, an optical fiber or other medium is utilized to provide the light from the laser 30 to the grating. In order for the light to be coupled into the grating and back reflections reduced, the light is desired to be delivered at a particular angle to the grating. As a result, light from the laser diode 30 is coupled into the grating of the conventional transducer.
In operation, the laser diode 30 provides light substantially along the optic axis 32 to the grating. The light from the laser diode 30 is coupled into the grating with reduced back reflections, and then provided to a waveguide of the conventional transducer 22. The waveguide directs the light toward the conventional media 12, heating a small region of the conventional media 12. The conventional EAMR transducer 22 magnetically writes to the conventional media 12 in the region the conventional media 12 is heated.
Although the conventional EAMR transducer 10 may function, manufacturing the conventional EAMR transducer 10 at an acceptable cost and efficiency of light delivery may be challenging. The conventional laser diode 30 and conventional slider 20 may be placed and mounted to the suspension using a conventional pick and place system. As discussed above, the conventional laser diode 30 and conventional slider 20 are to be placed such that the optic axis 32 makes a specific angle with normal to the trailing face 26. Accurately placing the conventional slider 20 and conventional laser diode 30 using such a conventional system may result in misalignments. Such misalignments may increase insertion loss of the laser light. Thus, efficiency of light delivery may suffer. Similarly, use of a fiber optic cable to couple light from the laser 30 to the transducer 22 may be mechanically unstable and increase the cost of the conventional EAMR transducer 10. In addition, manufacturing yield and/or manufacturing time may suffer.
Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method for improving manufacturability of an EAMR transducer.